IRE Asks: How do you deal with internet downtime?

The worst thing for any MMO player is to be seperated from their beloved fantasy realm by the very thing that establishes the gateway. When cruel fate raises its finger pointedly and says "you need a break!", we respond "no way, d00d!" and defiantly jam our pens into the tiny Reset buttons on the modem. After twenty-five resets and three "full unplugs" later, we resign ourselves to the fact that this is beyond our control.

Like losing a cherished loved one, MMO gamers will go through stages of denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance (or more depression) when the link to their nirvana is lost. So how do you handle it, IRE players? Do you endlessly pace the floor, staring out your window for the installation tech? Do you run to the hardware store and buy the longest ethernet cable you can find, hoping your neighbor will let you siphon his bandwidth?

Comments

Usb tethering has recently gained my love. I normally use powerline ethernet since the wireless reception in my room is terribad, but some internet > no internet. It's because of this I don't even have a regular wireless card in my pc, so I make do.

I deal with it internet downtime. I'll do any number of things. I'll watch some tv. Do some housework. Go get food. Play some other sort of game. I might work on some work for one of the game, paperwork or something I want to publish in game (particularly if it is for Lusternia, where publishing can really help your organizations).

Until my internet went down a few weeks back, I never knew about this amazing world of wonder and magic called the outside world. Only visible from my basement window it always intruiged me but I never felt the need to leave my small, dusty, dark, basement. I went outside, and it was wonderful, everything was so crisp and clear, the greens were greener and the colour shading was just amazing. I really do enjoy it. However, due to lack of intersting side quests, easy ways to level ones character stats, and large amounts of grinding required for income to purchase items to keep the character alive, I decided to leave it be, perhaps I'll dust it off again in a month or two.

Sims, Assassin's Creed, some Samurai Warriors, or something retro on an emulator. Warcraft II is always amusing. Something that doesn't require internet. The last two weeks, my internet has been going out five or six times an hour. Tech's coming tomorrow morning to give me back my lives.

Or, I might take the dogs for a walk, take on a co-worker's class, visit the neighbours, chill with my brother, or finally, FINALLY, visit my Uncle Vito. Y'all know there's a world outside, right?

I spend my entire time with internet down time, or power outages annoyed, frustrated, and outside with a frisbee, a dog, and an uncle, who, even at age 30, isn't above a game of frisbee with his 19 year old nephew

Singing Dust in the wind while looking out a window and doing a montage is possibly the greatest way to spend time reflecting on losses. Then the internet comes back up and you're immediately relieved of having to be so profound.

When my internet fails...I happen to be lucky enough to be close enough to the library I can catch the wi-fi from my bedroom. When that doesn't work either I read. I hate the library connection though. My library logs you out of wi-fi every hour and makes you log back in.

If I can't read though, because for some reason I was stupid enough to lose my reading glasses again, and my eyes hurt I get in the kitchen and start cooking up a storm. I think, "Oh! This is a great time to be trying out these thousands of recipes I have lying around!"

When my internet fails...I happen to be lucky enough to be close enough to the library I can catch the wi-fi from my bedroom. When that doesn't work either I read. I hate the library connection though. My library logs you out of wi-fi every hour and makes you log back in.

If I can't read though, because for some reason I was stupid enough to lose my reading glasses again, and my eyes hurt I get in the kitchen and start cooking up a storm. I think, "Oh! This is a great time to be trying out these thousands of recipes I have lying around!"